Press release No. 052 of 5 February 2021
WIESBADEN – Although some slaughterhouses were closed temporarily because of the coronavirus pandemic, meat production in Germany in 2020 is on a similar level as in previous years. Based on provisional figures, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that meat production by commercial slaughterhouses decreased by 1.6% to just under 7.8 million tonnes compared with 2019. This decline is comparable with that of 2019 (-1.4 % on 2018). The results suggest that the capacity constraints due to coronavirus induced closures could be compensated for by other slaughterhouses. A total of 57.6 million pigs, cattle, sheep, goats and horses as well as 670.1 million chickens, turkeys and ducks were slaughtered in the slaughterhouses.
